Fire restrictions

[montezumawell]

As many have speculated on this list and elsewhere, fire restrictions will soon be enforced in the Tonto, Prescott and Apache-Sitgreaves NF's. There's a story in the April 16 Az Rep Valley and State section. Below is the text of the April 15th news release from the Prescott NF. We were interested to note that the order includes restricting off road ATV usage as well. We didn't realize the restrictions covered that, too. There's still a lot of rumors flying around about forest closures. Nobody in the USFS is talking 'for the record' though. We saw the NAU Lumberjack paper this weekend and a headline blared someting like, 'Enjoy The Trails before they are closed.' Well, here's that release:
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PRESCOTT, Ariz.—The Prescott National Forest will go into precautionary fire restrictions on Thursday, April 18 at 8 a.m. “We continue to experience a drying trend with little relief in sight. Forest conditions have reached a level where it is important to reduce possible ignition sources,” said Prescott National Forest Fire Management Officer Robert Morales.

Campfires, charcoal grills and stove fires are prohibited on Prescott National Forest lands except in developed recreation sites where grills are provided. Pressurized liquid or gas stoves, lanterns and heaters meeting safety specifications are allowed.

Smoking is allowed only within enclosed vehicle, buildings, or developed recreation sites where area is free of all flammable material.

Operation of internal combustion engines are prohibited off of designated roads and trails and outside of developed campgrounds. This includes all vehicles, ATV’s, power saws, and generators.

Welding or operating of acetylene or other torches with open flames will also be prohibited as well. Blasting operations using explosives will also be prohibited.

The Apache-Sitgreaves and Tonto National Forests will also implement restrictions on Thursday. For other local fire restrictions and fire information in general for any Southwestern Forest, you can use the World Wide Web at http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/fire or you may call toll free 1-877-864-6985.

The public is also reminded that fireworks are always prohibited on all national forest lands. Please help keep our forests free from fires for the duration of this fire season.